Opposition leader Bernard Grech told a delegation of the Malta Institute of Accountants on Tuesday that everyone needed to assume his responsibility to restore Malta's reputation abroad.

He referred to the forthcoming 'Moneyval test' for Malta and said it was important that the country was successful so that the financial sector would not suffer.

The meeting came a month after the institute's president, Fabio Axisa, said the MIA had resolved to clamp down on members who, through direct or indirect involvement in cases of alleged improper behaviour, brought the profession into disrepute.

The accountancy sector was thrown into disrepute in recent years with the alleged wrongdoing of accountants Brian Tonna and Karl Cini, Nexia BT’s partners, who were arrested in September in connection with a money-laundering investigation.

The two were released without charge, but the Accountancy Board – the profession’s regulator – suspended their warrants. The two resigned from the institute before any disciplinary proceedings were taken against them.

The PN in a statement about Grech's meeting did not mention the controversy.

Grech told the accountants that a change of culture was needed so that solutions to improve the country's standing did not come only from the politicians, since reputation was everyone's concern. Politicians, however, had a duty to ensure that the financial sector was supported and strengthened. 

The PN, having developed this sector, felt it its duty to speak out when matters were not handled as they should - such as the recent appointment of the FIAU chairman without prior parliamentary approval in terms of the law.